System for ordering products and forecasting customer interest

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a system for ordering a product and forecasting consumer interest, including a computer, software executing on the computer for listing a plurality of products for purchase, software executing on the computer for determining when a user views a product of the plurality of products, software executing on the computer for determining when a user orders a product of the plurality of products, software executing on the computer for tolling the views of each product and for tolling the orders of each product, software executing on the computer for identifying a first customer based on the tolled views, and software executing on the computer for identifying a second customer based on the tolled orders.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to systems and methods for ordering products.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Some consumers order products or services through the internet becauseit is convenient and it saves time as opposed to traveling to and from astore. Other consumers may find the selection is more abundant at aninternet site since a site may carry numerous brands and varieties of asingle product, such as a shoe, whereas a store may be limited due tospace availability or costs associated with having a large inventory ofproducts.

Further, merchants may find advertising on the internet to beadvantageous because its low cost relative to advertisements on othermedia, such as radio, television, or printed ads. Advertisements on theinternet also have the ability to reach many more consumers thantraditional advertisements.

However, when a consumer decides to place an order for a product orservice, the consumer may encounter several obstacles that maydiscourage the consumer from proceeding, thereby negating any benefitsfrom advertising on the internet. A typical obstacle is that the productor service is not available. The problem may be exacerbated if theconsumer spent considerable time reading through the advertisements andcompared the selected product or service against other products orservices only to find out in the end it was for naught. Moreover, theordering process may be lengthy, such as inputting personal informationor payment information, and only upon getting to the end is the consumernotified the selected item is unavailable. Such problems may lead to alost sale even if the item is made available to the customer at a laterdate. In a more unfortunate event, such problems may lead to a lostcustomer if the customer chooses not to visit such an unreliable site.Hence, an improved process for ordering products or services mayalleviate the above problems.

Another use of the internet is to gather information. Although theInternet usually allows consumers access to a wealth of informationconcerning products or services they are considering purchasing, thereverse is often not as easy. For example, while many Internet commercesites allow consumers to provide their reviews of a given product orservice, a small percentage of consumers may actually do so. Moreover,once the reviews are given, sites normally do little, if anything, toanalyze the reviews to improve their products or services in ameaningful manner to adequately conform to the suggestions in thereviews. Further, since reviews typically represent a small percentageof consumers, relying upon reviews to obtain information from consumersin general, even if products or services may be altered to conform tothe reviews, may be inadequate or may not represent the majority ofconsumers.

Because merchants and manufacturers typically lack sufficientinformation about consumers' opinions, it may be difficult not only toknow what consumers thought about products already purchased in thepast, but it may also be difficult to gauge consumers' future interest.Even if reviews are utilized as a basis for gauging consumers' interest,future interest may also not be accurately predicted because aconsumer's future purchases may not be related to past purchases for avariety of reasons, such as a change in taste by the consumer. Hence,systems, if any, that utilize reviews as a basis for gauging consumers'future interest may be flawed.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,963,848 seems to relate to encouraging consumers tosubmit reviews and, based on the received reviews, recommendations maybe made.

Additionally, even if a consumer is interested in a product and thisinterest may be somehow calculated, websites often lack the ability tofollow-through with the consumer to encourage the consumer to purchase aproduct or service. In a traditional brick and mortar store, a salesperson may be available to observe an interested customer and assist thecustomers with samples or answer any questions. Commerce sites typicallylack the salesperson to observe any interested customers or tofollow-through with them.

Moreover, the types of products or services commonly available toconsumers are often for those that are currently available or those thatare already in production and are committed by manufacturers, such asbeing in the front stages of production, to be made available in thenear future. Consumers are usually not solicited for purchase ofproducts or services that are conceptual in nature or are in thebeginning stages of production.

This is because a product supplier may find it cost prohibitive to makeproducts in accordance with consumer interest, particular since interestcan vary from consumer to consumer. Also, a product supplier may havelong lead times associated with products and gauging consumer interestone year may not be helpful in 6 months to 1 year, which are common andtimes for companies importing goods from overseas. This problem may beexacerbated when fashion trends are shorter than lead times. In somecases, a product supplier may provide a product or service in accordancewith measured customer interest but such cost associated with theproduct or service is normally higher. Hence, the customer or theproduct supplier may need to bear the higher cost. Further, thisarrangement normally requires a commitment from both the customer andthe supplier, either in the form of a deposit or contract.

What is desired, therefore, is an improved ordering process. Anotherdesire is a system that streamlines the ordering process. A furtherdesire is a system that streamlines the amount of advertisements acustomer sees. Yet another desire is a program that permits consumers toorder products that are not yet available, or may not ever be availableto the general public or preferred customers. Still another desire is aprogram that permits consumers to order specialized products withminimized obligation to the consumer and minimized risk of loss to theproduct supplier. A further desire is a program that permits consumersto customize their specialized products at the time of the order. Yetanother desire is a program that forecasts consumer interest so that aproduct supplier can meet future demand and maximize profits byproviding products that are believed to be of interest to the consumersbased on the forecasted consumer interest. Still a further desire is aprogram that identifies interested consumers to a product supplier sothat the product supplier may contact the interested consumers withfurther information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a system thatpermits products and/or services to be ordered in an enhanced manner.

Another object is a system that permits products and/or services to beordered in an efficient manner without deluging a customer with unwantedmail or advertisements.

A further object of the invention is a system that permits a customer toreserve a product and/or service for a future purchase.

Yet another object is a system that allows a customer to order aspecialized product and/or service with reduced risk to both thecustomer and product or service provider.

Still another object is a system that permits a customer to customizehis/her order.

Another object is a system that forecasts customer demand.

A further object is a system that identifies preferred customers.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved by a system forordering a product and forecasting consumer interest, including acomputer, software executing on the computer for listing a plurality ofproducts for purchase, software executing on the computer fordetermining when a user views a product of the plurality of products,software executing on the computer for determining when a user orders aproduct of the plurality of products, software executing on the computerfor tolling the views of each product and for tolling the orders of eachproduct, software executing on the computer for identifying a firstcustomer based on the tolled views, and software executing on thecomputer for identifying a second customer based on the tolled orders.

In some embodiments, the system also includes software executing on thecomputer for transmitting the identity of the first customer to aproduct supplier. In further embodiments, the system also has softwarefor transmitting the identity of the second customer to a productsupplier.

In other embodiments, the system has software executing on the computerfor determining a popularity of each product based on the tolled viewsand the tolled orders. In some of these embodiments, the system includessoftware executing on the computer for indicating whether a product isto be supplied based on the tolled number of orders for the product.

In another embodiment, the system has software executing on the computerfor storing a list of products based on a frequency of tolled views ortolled orders.

In another aspect of the invention, the system provides softwareexecuting on the computer for listing a plurality of products forpurchase, wherein each product is supplied based on orders from users,software executing on the computer for receiving an order for a productand an identity from a user, software executing on the computer forstoring the identity of each user in association with the correspondingorder, and software executing on the computer for, after calculating aproduction date of the ordered product, transmitting the identity andcorresponding order to a product supplier.

In some embodiments, the system includes software executing on thecomputer for determining availability of the ordered product. In otherembodiments, the system uses software executing on the computer forprompting the product supplier to contact the user.

In further embodiments, the system has software executing on thecomputer for soliciting orders from a plurality of users and forindicating whether a product is to be supplied based on the tollednumber of orders for the product.

In a further aspect of the invention, the system includes softwareexecuting on the computer for receiving a plurality of orders forvarious products from a plurality of products, software executing on thecomputer for receiving a plurality of modifications to the plurality oforders, software executing on the computer for tolling orders for eachproduct of the plurality of products to determine a popularity of eachproduct based on the tolled orders, software executing on the computerfor tolling modifications for each product of the plurality of productsto determine a popularity of each product based on the tolledmodifications, software executing on the computer for storing a list ofthe plurality of products based on the frequency of orders of eachproduct, software executing on the computer for storing a list of theplurality of products based on the frequency of modifications of eachproduct, software executing on the computer for indicating whether aproduct is to be supplied based on the tolled orders and tolledmodifications for the product, and software executing on the computerfor transmitting the orders and modifications to a product supplier.

In some embodiments, the system includes software executing on thecomputer for receiving a plurality of modifications for a single order.

In yet another aspect of the invention, a method for ordering a productand forecasting consumer interest includes the steps of providing acomputer, listing a plurality of products for purchase, determining whena user views a product of the plurality of products, determining when auser orders a product of the plurality of products, tolling a number ofviews of each product, tolling a number of orders of each product,identifying a first customer based on the tolled views, and identifyinga second customer based on the tolled orders.

In some embodiments, the method has the step of transmitting theidentity of the first and second customers to a product supplier. Inother embodiments, the method determines a popularity of each productbased on the tolled views and the tolled orders.

In further embodiments, the method includes the step of indicatingwhether a product is to be supplied based on the tolled number of ordersfor the product and storing a list of products based on the tolled viewsand the tolled orders.

In still another aspect of the invention, a system for ordering aproduct is provided, which includes a computer, software executing onthe computer for soliciting an order from a customer for an item to beprovided, software executing on the computer for receiving the order,and software executing on the computer for sending an order identifierto the customer, each order identifier including an indication of theitem to be provided. The invention also includes software executing onthe computer for storing the order identifier, software executing on thecomputer for notifying the customer when the ordered item is availablefor purchase, software executing on the computer for prompting thecustomer to submit the order identifier, and software executing on thecomputer for matching the received order identifier with the storedorder identifier for confirming the customer placed the reservation.

In some embodiments, the system further includes software executing onthe computer for confirming the customer submitting the order identifiersent the solicited reservation by matching the received order identifierwith the stored order identifier.

In other embodiments, the system includes the steps of softwareexecuting on the computer for prompting the customer to submit anidentity of the customer, software executing on the computer for storingthe identity, software executing on the computer for prompting thecustomer to submit the identity contemporaneously with prompting thecustomer to submit the order identifier, and software executing on thecomputer for matching the received identity and received orderidentifier with the stored identity and stored order identifier.

In further embodiments, the system has the step of masking thesolicitation of a reservation from certain customers while permittingother customers to view the solicitation of a reservation.

Optionally, the system reminds the customer the item is available forpurchase. The system may also display a list of items available to beprovided, each item being reservable by the customer. In some of theseembodiments, the system updates the list based on the receivedreservations.

In a further embodiment, the system includes the step of expiring thereceived reservation upon receipt of the order identifier by thecustomer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts the system for ordering a product and forecastingconsumer interest in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 more particularly depicts the software for forecasting shown inFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 more particularly depicts the software for receiving consumerinformation shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 depicts a method for providing the system shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts system 10 for ordering products in accordance with theinvention. System 10 includes software 46 for listing a plurality ofproducts for sale, list 252 being electronically displayed on a webpageand may include a plurality of different items where each item isavailable in a plurality of different sizes. In other embodiments, list252 is a hardcopy listing of products for sale. In addition, system 10includes steps software 44 for soliciting orders, for prompting 48 areview, and for requesting 52 customization of an order.

In some embodiments, software 44 for soliciting orders involvesadvertising, direct mail, or directly contacting potential buyers withthe list of products. In particularly, soliciting 44 orders involvessending advertisements 254 and the like to potential buyers for enticingthem to view list 252. System 10 also includes software 64 for masking alist of products so that potential buyers or preferred customers wouldbe able to view list 252 of products while others who are not identifiedas potential or preferred customers may not view list 252. This permitscertain customers to have an option to purchase items on list 252,whereupon a refusal by the certain customers to purchase may promptsystem 10 to permit all members of the public to view the items on list252 that were not purchased by the certain customers. System 10 alsoincludes software 74 for updating the list of products based on thereceived orders 264 so that future potential or preferred customers whoview list 252 would be able to see the most accurate availability ofcolors and/or sizes.

In other embodiments, software 48 for prompting a review involvessending request 256 to a buyer to give review or comment or opinion 262of a product that the buyer purchased. In further embodiments, software52 for requesting customization of an order means request 258 formodification is sent to a buyer to see if the buyer wants to makespecial changes to a product that is ordered.

In addition, system 10 includes software 56 for receiving consumerinformation, such as review 262, order 264, user's identity 266, ormodification 268. It is understood that the type of information receivedfrom user's computer 20 is not limited to the above list and includesdemographic information, complaints, questions, or any information sentby user's computer 20. Software 56 for receiving consumer informationand software 68 for forecasting consumer interest, calculatingproduction date, and marketing recommendations are more particularlydescribed below.

Once consumer information is received, software 68 for forecastingconsumer interest, calculating production date, and marketingrecommendations sends forecast/recommendation 274 to product supplier'scomputer 30 so that the product supplier may make decision 276 based onthe received forecast/recommendation. In some embodiments, decision 276to be made by the product supplier may be a confirmed date foravailability of the order, changes to the order, confirmation of therequested modification, suggestions to the requested modification, andthe like. In other embodiments, decision 276 is any judgment made by theproduct supplier based in part on forecast/recommendation 274.

When the product supplier is contemplating decision 274, the productsupplier may need further information 278, in which the product supplierissues command 280 to computer 18 and software 76 for receiving productsupplier's inquiries or commands will transmit the requested furtherinformation 278 back to the product supplier. In some embodiments,further information 278 is additional demographic information, useridentity, previous orders submitted by the user, any previousmodifications submitted by the user, history of returns, and the like.Further information 278 is received by software for accessing furtherinformation 38 at product supplier's computer and processed for use bythe product supplier, such as being converted into a spreadsheet.

Also, once consumer information is received, software 66 fortransmitting consumer information to a product supplier transmitsidentity, order, modification, demographic information, and/or relatedinformation 67 to a product supplier. In addition, software 62 foridentifying a consumer sends identity 266 of the consumer to the productsupplier so that the product supplier may review the order, anymodification to the order, and other related information for each user.

When computer 18 receives 56 consumer information, computer 18 storesthe received consumer information on database 270. In addition, when theproduct supplier issues command 280 for further information, computer 18retrieves the requested information from database 270 for transmissionto product supplier's computer 30 in response to command 280.

When the product supplier decides upon the availability date of theordered product or if any changes to the order are to be suggested, theproduct supplier sends decision 276 to computer 18, where software 72for transmitting confirmation of the order or suggesting changes to theorder transmits confirmation/suggested change 282 to user's computer 20.The suggested change is for a change to the order, change to themodification, or both.

FIG. 2 more particularly depicts software 68 for forecasting consumerinterest, calculating production date, and marketing recommendations,which is shown more generally in FIG. 1. Software 68 for forecastingconsumer interest, calculating production date, and marketingrecommendations includes software 162 for determining a number of viewseach user views a product, software 166 for totaling the number of viewsof each product for each user, software 170 for determining a popularityof each product based on the tolled views, and software 174 forrecommending whether or not a product is to be supplied based on thetolled views.

Software 68 for forecasting consumer interest, calculating productiondate, and marketing recommendations also includes software 164 fordetermining a number of orders each user places for each product,software 168 for totaling the number of orders of each product for eachuser, software 172 for determining a popularity of each product based onthe tolled orders, and software 176 for recommending whether or not aproduct is to be supplied based on the tolled orders.

In this effort, software 68 for forecasting consumer interest,calculating a production date, and marketing recommendations not onlytracks the number of orders made, but also tracks the number of views aproduct receives based at least in part on the number of clicks a usermakes to see a particular webpage. Similarly, in addition to tolling thenumber of orders for each product, the invention tolls the number ofviews a webpage receives and this occurs for each webpage so that apopularity of each product may be determined. Based on the popularity ofa product based at least in part on the tolled views or tolled orders orboth for that product, the invention recommends whether or not to incurthe expenses in supplying the product.

After determining the recommendations based on the tolled views ortolled orders. Software 178 stores the tolled number of views, tollednumber of orders, popularity of each product, and recommendation over aspecified time. It is understood that any data specified herein may besaved onto a database at any time, such as storing the tolled number ofviews of each product before determining a popularity of that product.Hence, information may be stored at any time since there is norequirement that all tolling and recommendations need to be completedbefore any of the data is stored onto database 270.

Similar to the above steps related to the views and orders, theinvention also includes software 182 for receiving a modification to aproduct, software 184 for tolling the number of modifications of eachproduct for each user, software 186 for determining a popularity of aproduct based on the tolled modifications, and software 188 forrecommending whether or not a product is to be supplied based on thetolled modifications.

As suggested above, software 178 for storing information may store thetolled number of modifications for each product after all modificationsfor all products are tolled or information may be stored each time amodification is made to a product.

Software 190 for calculating a production date based on the number oforders and/or the number of modifications to a product calculates thedate after all popularity or recommendations are completed for theproduct. The total number of orders and the total number ofmodifications, not to mention the kinds of modifications, may affectlead time and, therefore, calculating the production date may not bepossible until all orders and requests for modifications are received.

After the calculation date, software 191 for transmitting thecalculation date, or forecast/recommendation 274, sends the calculationdate to the product supplier or, upon authorization by the productsupplier, to the customer. After receipt of forecast/recommendation 274,the product supplier has veto power and final say to set anothercalculation date or follow forecast/recommendation 274, whereuponconfirmed production date 296 would be sent (see FIG. 3) to computer 18and received by software 222 for receiving the confirmed productiondate, whereupon prompt 295 to contact the consumer would beautomatically sent when the confirmed production date approaches. Prompt295 can be set to be automatically sent at any arbitrary time periodtime before the production date, where the arbitrary time period isdetermined by the product supplier, whether it is 1 day, 1 week, or anynumber of days or weeks. Prompt 295 is sent by software 220 forprompting the product supplier to contact the consumer.

FIG. 3 more particularly depicts software 56 for receiving consumerinformation, includes software 202 for receiving order 264 and software204 for receiving a user's identity 266, both order 264 and identity 266being sent by a user operating user's computer 20. When order 264 isreceived, software 208 for generating an order identifier generatesidentifier 288 and software 206 for sending an order identifier sendsorder identifier 288 to user's computer 20 that identifies the order bya special code, which may be a reservation number or alphanumericpassword unique to the order and/or user. Additionally, software 206 forassociating the identity of a consumer with the order and orderidentifier corresponds or links each user's identity with order 264 sentby that user and order identifier 288 sent to that user. A latersubmission of order identifier 288 by the user would automatically bringup the user's identity and order and other information related to orderidentifier 288. Software 208 for generating order identifier 288 alsosends a copy of it to database 270 along with identity 266.

Order identifier 288 is advantageous because the user's identity andorder comprise words or letters that may be difficult to coordinate withthe particular item that is being ordered. Order identifier 288, whichmay be a password that is numeric or alphanumeric, may have a firstnumber for identifying the item to be ordered followed by a size, color,date, or customer identifier. For example, a password or orderidentifier 02085B001 may represent item 02, which may be stored indatabase 270 as men's dress shoe called a penny loafer, having a size of8½, which is represented by 085, and having a color of brown, identifiedas B is the password, and the customer is identified as 001. Once thispassword is received by software 56 for receiving consumer information,other information would be available, such as the date and status of theorder as well as other demographic information. This abundance ofinformation may be difficult to store without uniform identifiers foritem style, size, and the like. It should be known that software 208 forgenerating order identifier assigns a unique order identifier for eachuser.

After order 264 and identity 266 are received and associated by software206 for associating order 264 and identity 266, software 218 fortransmitting consumer information 67, order 264, and/or order identifier266 sends any combination 294 of this information to product supplier30.

When the item being ordered arrives or becomes available for the user topurchase and take possession, software 208 for notifying a customer acustomer sends notification 290 to the user and prompts 210 the user tosend order identifier 288. In some embodiments, software 210 prompts theuser when the user responds to the notification. The notification may bean email with a link that directs the user to a webpage, whereuponprompt 292 for order identifier 288 automatically pops up or isdisplayed on the webpage.

As described above under FIG. 2, prompt 295 is sent to product supplier30 to contact the consumer that the production date is approaching.Product supplier 30 sends command 298 to software 224 for receivingcommand 298 to notify the customer, whereupon software 208 for notifyingthe customer sends notification 290.

In another embodiment, when sending confirmed production date 296,product supplier 30 also sends command 298 to automatically notify thecustomer at the beginning of the arbitrarily determined time perioddescribed above, where software 226 for automatically notifying thecustomer of the availability of the item ordered, which obviates theneed to send prompt 295 to contact the consumer to product supplier 30.

Once order identifier 288 is sent by the user, software 212 for matchingreceived order identifier 288 compares the received order identifierwith the stored order identifier on database 270. Once a match is found,software 214 for confirming the customer submitting order identifier 288is the customer that made or sent original order 264, or reservation. Insome embodiments, software 210 prompting a customer to submit orderidentifier 288 also prompts the customer to submit identity 266,whereupon software 212 for matching also compares the received identitywith the stored identity in addition to identifier 288. Software 214 forconforming confirms other details of order identifier 288 and order 264,such as the color availability, size, and the like. This may be donethrough a series of emails automatically generated by computer 18 basedon the stored data at database 270.

If software 212 for matching does not detect a match of received orderidentifier with any on database 270, software 216 for requesting acustomer would ask the customer to submit an order or to be put on await list for the item.

After confirmation is complete and the customer sending order identifier288 is confirmed to be the customer who originally placed order 264,software 228 for commencing purchasing process asks for payment andshipping information, such as a credit card number and whether or notthe customer wants express or standard delivery.

Also after confirmation is complete, software 232 for expiring orderidentifier 288 expires the order identifier and updates database 270 ofsuch expiration.

FIG. 4 depicts method 300 for providing the system described above forordering a product and forecasting consumer interest. Method 300includes the steps of providing 302 a computer, listing 306 a pluralityof products available for purchase on the computer, determining 308 whena user views a product, determining 310 when a user orders a product.Moreover, method 300 tolls 316 the number of views a user views eachproduct and method 300 tolls 318 the number of orders of each product.

In this effort, by the frequency of visits to a webpage or views of aproduct, method 300 determines and identifies a consumer who may have afavorable potential for purchasing a product even though that consumerdid not place an order. By tracking the frequency of views, method 300can identify 322 a user with a higher potential for purchasing thananother user who does not frequent the webpage or who does notfrequently view a product. In the same effort, method 300 identifies 324a customer based on the tolled number of orders.

Based on the tolled number of orders, method 300 includes software forindicating 328 whether a product is to be supplied. Additionally, method300 determines 326 a popularity of a product based on the tolled viewsand tolled orders.

In either case whether or not a user orders a product or simply views aproduct, method 300 transmits 330 user identity, view information, andorder information to a product supplier so that a product supplier mayreview the stored 332 user identity, stored view information, and storedorder information from a database.

1. A system for ordering a product, comprising: a computer; softwareexecuting on said computer for soliciting an order from a customer foran item to be provided; software executing on said computer forreceiving the order; software executing on said computer for sending anorder identifier to the customer, each order identifier including anindication of the item to be provided; software executing on saidcomputer for storing the order identifier; software executing on saidcomputer for notifying the customer when the ordered item is availablefor purchase; software executing on said computer for prompting thecustomer to submit the order identifier; and software executing on saidcomputer for matching the received order identifier with the storedorder identifier for confirming the customer placed the reservation. 2.The system according to claim 1, further comprising software executingon said computer for confirming the customer submitting the orderidentifier sent the solicited reservation by matching the received orderidentifier with the stored order identifier.
 3. The system according toclaim 1, further comprising software executing on said computer forprompting the customer to submit an identity of the customer; softwareexecuting on said computer for storing the identity; software executingon said computer for prompting the customer to submit the identitycontemporaneously with prompting the customer to submit the orderidentifier; and software executing on said computer for matching thereceived identity and received order identifier with the stored identityand stored order identifier.
 4. The system according to claim 1, furthercomprising software executing on said computer for masking thesolicitation of a reservation from certain customers while permittingother customers to view the solicitation of a reservation.
 5. The systemaccording to claim 1, further comprising software executing on saidcomputer for reminding the customer the item is available for purchase.6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising softwareexecuting on said computer for displaying a list of items available tobe provided, each item being reservable by the customer.
 7. The systemaccording to claim 6, further comprising software executing on saidcomputer for updating the list based on the received reservations. 8.The system according to claim 1, further comprising software executingon said computer for expiring the received reservation upon receipt ofthe order identifier by the customer.